EVIL killer Levi Bellfield has confessed to the 1996 hammer murders of Lin and Megan Russell – but what does it mean for ex-heroin addict Michael Stone who is in prison for their deaths?

Bellfield – who is serving two whole-life orders for killing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amélie Delagrange, 22 – has made a formal statement claiming responsibility for the deaths of Lin, 45, and her daughter, Megan, six.

It could mean Michael Stone, who has spent 24 years behind bars for the crime that shocked the nation, has suffered a miscarriage of justice. 

Here we take a look at seven crucial questions following Bellfield's bombshell confession. 

What has Bellfield said?

In a four-page statement, Bellfield reveals he wore yellow Marigold rubber gloves and carried a hammer in his hand.

He claims he intended to only kill Lin on July 9 1996, in Chillenden, Kent.

He states: "She asked me not to harm her children. She was calm.

“Had she screamed I would have attacked her and left not harming the children.

“The situation just got out of control and the more she complied it just gave me more confidence."

He claims he then killed Megan, six, as well as the family dog, Lucy, after it bit him and left nine-year-old Josie Russell for dead. 

He states: “There was blood everywhere and all up my legs, arms and shorts.”

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He also admits to murdering a woman called Judith Gold in north London in 1990.

If true, his confession would make Bellfield one of Britain’s worst serial killers.

Can confession be trusted?

Last year, Bellfield – who has converted to Islam and goes by the name Yusuf Rahim – admitted being in the Chillenden area on the day of the murders.

But Colin Sutton, the former Met detective who caught Bellfield, is sceptical.

He said at the time: "Knowing Bellfield as I do, this could be him playing mind games."

Bellfield's ex girlfriend, Johanna Collings, has given Bellfield an alibi, telling Met police officers that the pair were together for her 25th birthday on the day of the Kent killings.

She previously said of the Russell murders: "He never left my side all day and all night, so there is absolutely no way he could have gone from Twickenham, where I lived, or Windsor, where I kept my horses, to Kent, done what they say he did and got back without me not knowing.

"I hate to say it but, hand on my heart, I can say he didn’t do it."

There are also questions as to whether there is anything new in the statement, or whether it only contains information that has already been in the public domain.

Why now?

Bellfield first claimed he was the man behind the murder of Lin and Megan Russell in 2017.

He also said he had owned a beige Ford Sapphire at the time, similar to one spotted near the crime scene.

But he later retracted his confession and has never been charged. 

Last year, Bellfield admitted to driving his taxi near the area on the day the family was bludgeoned with a hammer on their way home from a swimming gala.

But in a statement seen by The Sun, he said:  "I wish to set the record straight. It is my hope that by making this statement a line can be drawn under my suspicion of committing the 1996 Chillenden crimes."

Bellfield’s former partner, Rebecca Wilkinson, who is mum to his four daughters, believes he was responsible.

She told the Mirror: “Yes, I believe it. I knew he would say it after his mum died.”

The Sun previously reported the Bellfield had an odd relationship with his mum, Jean, who died in 2017.

Johanna Collings claimed:  “She wiped his a**e and let him share her bed until he was 13 years old."

Bellfield was convicted of murdering schoolgirl Milly Dowler nine years after she disappeared in 2002, while already serving life sentencesfor killing Amelie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell.

He is the only UK prisoner in history to be handed two-whole life sentences.

In his new statement, he also said he is responsible for the murder of Judith Gold, a mother of three found battered to death in Hampstead, north London, in 1990.

4. Why do Michael Stone's supporters believe he is innocent?

The ex heroin addict has always denied the murders, saying he would rather "starve to death than confess."

At sentencing in 1998, Stone told the judge: "It wasn't me, Your Honour. I didn't do it."

A retrial was ordered after one of the witnesses admitting to have lied in the initial trial, but Stone was again found guilty and was given a life sentence in 2001.

There was a lack of forensic evidence from the scene.

In a 2017 BBC documentary about the murders, Dr Georgina Meakin, said of the DNA results: "We end up with DNA that doesn’t point to Michael Stone and points elsewhere."

A bloody fingerprint found on Josie's lunchbox was not proved to be Stone's. It was poor quality but said to have a 'loop' pattern that could have matched Lin's prints.

Survivor Josie Russell estimated the killer was a little taller than her 6ft father, Shaun – but Stone is 5ft 7ins.

Stone was previously imprisoned in 1981 for attacking a man with a hammer during a robbery, followed by a four-and-a-half year sentence for stabbing a friend while he slept in 1983.

In 1986, he was handed a 10-year sentence for two armed robberies and was released in 1993.

5. What about the bootlace?

A bootlace found at the scene and lost for 14 years could nail Bellfield as the killer.

He claims he used it to tie Lin's hands during the attack.

The prosecution claimed the 99cm black lace could have been used by Stone as a tourniquet to inject drugs. But no forensic evidence has linked him to the lace.

It had traces of blood from both Megan and Josie and was recently discovered in police storage.

Scientists say "fragments" of DNA have been found on it but have not yet been able to establish a definite match.

There was also a balaclava found half a mile away from the scene which contained fibres which matched Megan and Josie's clothing as well as 22 hairs which did not belong to the girls.

Is there a link between Bellfield and Stone?

The pair are both behind bars at Durham's Frankland jail, although Stone is on the main wing while Bellfield is housed in the vulnerable prisoners' unit.

In December 2017, Stone's solicitors claimed to have new evidence that Bellfield had confessed to the Russell murders.

However, Bellfield's lawyer Julie Cooper fired back, claiming Stone offered to pay Bellfield to confess.

She said: "Our client has three notes from Mr Stone in this regard which has been given to the prison service, together with a number of complaints regarding Mr Stone about his persistent attempts to get our client to accept responsibility for his (Mr Stone's) crimes."

Ms Cooper said Bellfield had requested Stone to take a lie detector test, which had been denied. Bellfield has also refused to carry out such a test.

Bellfield said in his new statement: "Something like this has never happened to me, in the sense I've committed a crime and another person has been arrested for it.

"I apologise to Stone and the Russell family for my heinous acts."

What happens now?

The confession document will now be sent to watchdog the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which has the power to order re-trials and is considering an appeal by Stone, 61.

The judge who sentenced Stone said a whole-life order was appropriate but the longest tally he could impose was 25 years, which put him behind bars until at least 2023.

Stone has refused to work with probation officers, believing that will be taken as an admission of guilt.

His lawyer Mark McDonald said Stone was "greatly encouraged" by the confession.

Mr McDonald added: "He is hopeful this matter will be followed up by the authorities as soon as possible."

Stone's sister Barbara said: “I hope they take this statement from Bellfield seriously. My brother is hoping this will help prove his innocence.”

Josie and Shaun Russell have not commented on the new development.

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